Moscow Urges U.N. to Bolster Afghan Accords

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze called Tuesday for a special U.N. Security Council meeting to ensure compliance with the Afghan peace accords and hinted that the Soviet Union might suspend its troop withdrawal if the United States and Pakistan do not end military aid to rebels fighting to oust the Moscow-backed government.

In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Shevardnadze complained of “a nonstop production line of violations” of the Geneva accords, which require the Soviet Union to end its eight-year occupation of Afghanistan. Although Moscow had long resisted calls for troop withdrawal, Shevardnadze hailed the pact as “the first step in a chain reaction leading to a healthier world.”

‘Completed First Stage’

Talking to reporters after his speech, Shevardnadze said: “We have completed the first stage of our withdrawal. We have not yet begun the second stage.”

Asked if he was suggesting that the second stage might be delayed or canceled, the Soviet foreign minister said: “We will wait and see. There have been violations of the agreement that have taken place.”

In his speech, Shevardnadze also said cryptically, “We have the means to make things fall into place.” But he said it would be better for the United Nations to enforce the pact than for the Soviet Union to act unilaterally.

“We are proposing that a meeting of the permanent members of the Security Council . . . discuss the question of compliance with the Geneva accords,” Shevardnadze said. “It would be appropriate also to invite the representatives of the parties directly concerned,” a reference to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said the United States is prepared to discuss compliance with the accords when foreign ministers of the permanent members--the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China--hold a previously scheduled meeting at the United Nations on Friday.

But he said Washington will not sit down with “the regime which constitutes itself in Kabul” because the United States does not consider it to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

‘Violations Set in Motion’

Shevardnadze declared: “As soon as Soviet troops began to withdraw, a nonstop production line of violations was set in motion. Their list could totally refute the assertion heard here yesterday (an oblique reference to President Reagan’s speech to the General Assembly) that bloodshed has diminished in the region. On the contrary, terror has been mounting sharply, and it is increasingly directed at civilians.”

Doesn’t Accuse U.S.

Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said later that Shevardnadze was referring to Pakistani military aid to the moujahedeen who are fighting to oust the Soviet-backed Afghan government. Gerasimov did not also accuse the United States of breaching the pact, but Washington has acknowledged that the weapons being funneled through Pakistan to the insurgents originate in the United States.

The United States denies that it is violating the pact, because Shultz announced at the time the agreement was signed that Washington reserved the right to supply arms to the insurgents as long as Moscow continued to provide military aid to the Kabul government. Talking to reporters Tuesday, Shultz accused the Soviet Union and the Kabul regime of breaking the agreement by bombing border villages in Pakistan.

Conciliatory Speech

Despite the disagreement over Afghanistan, Shevardnadze’s speech was conciliatory toward the United States and full of praise for the United Nations. Shevardnadze, seemingly turning upside down many long-held Soviet beliefs, said it was time for the world to abandon concepts like military secrecy, indivisible national sovereignty and diplomacy based on ideology.

In addition, the Soviet Union has long scoffed at Western concern over the environment. But Shevardnadze said: “Faced with the threat of environmental catastrophe, the dividing lines of the bipolar ideological world are receding . . . we are proposing to the United States and other countries to abolish some planned or ongoing military programs and channel the funds thus released toward instituting an international regime of environmental security.”

Shevardnadze also said the verification provisions of the U.S.-Soviet treaty banning ground-launched intermediate-range nuclear missiles would have been inconceivable a few years ago. In an astonishing statement for a leader of a nation that has long adhered to military secrecy, Shevardnadze said, “Elimination of secrecy is becoming a factor of security.”

Surrender Some Sovereignty

He said all nations should surrender some of their absolute sovereignty to international organizations, such as the United Nations, to keep the peace.

In a passage that seemed to reject 70 years of Soviet policy, Shevardnadze said it is time to ignore differences of doctrine in matters of diplomacy and foreign policy.

Although the speech contained some barbs at the United States, Shevardnadze endorsed Reagan’s proposal, made in his speech to the same forum Monday, for a conference to reinvigorate the 1925 protocol against poison gas warfare.

When a reporter suggested that the speech seemed to be all “sweetness and light” toward the United States, Shevardnadze said: “I wouldn’t say sweetness. I would say an improvement in U.S.-Soviet relations.”

In his speech, Shevardnadze added a poetic reference to Moscow’s relationship with the United States: “We do not want to fight, and love is still a remote possibility.”

Times staff writer Don Shannon also contributed to this story.